Facebook Launching Siri-Like Assistant to Help You Find Good Burgers and More

Facebook Launching Siri-Like Assistant to Help You Find Good Burgers and More

Social networking giant Facebook has announced a new service called “M,” described as a “personal digital assistant” that lives inside of the Facebook Messenger app. According to Facebook executive David Marcus, the Siri-like M is part human, part robot.

“It’s powered by artificial intelligence that’s trained and supervised by people,” he said in a statement.

What differentiates M from the likes of Siri, Google Now, and Cortana is that it not only serves you information, but also can complete purchases or book appointments on your behalf, among other things.

“It can purchase items, get gifts delivered to your loved ones, book restaurants, travel arrangements, appointments, and way more.”

An in-development version of M is rolling out now to select users. Marcus acknowledged that it’s still early days for M, but he is optimistic about its potential in the long run.

“It’s an exciting step towards enabling people on Messenger to get things done across a variety of things, so they can get more time to focus on what’s important in their lives,” he said.